Now if there's one thing America knows how to do damn well, it is building beautiful bridges! The Brooklyn Bridge is definitely no exception to this. One afternoon we found ourselves with a few hours spare before our night time activities, so decided to head on out to pay it a visit.
Now I must warn you, actually trying to find the damn thing is not for the faint hearted! You see, we could find the bridge no problem, however finding the entrance to it is a lot harder than it sounds! It is like something from the Krypton Factor i swear! We were in DUMBO and ready to stroll across the magnificent bridge, however it took us about half an hour to find the walkway which led onto it. Every time we thought we had found it, nope the bridge carried on! About 84 years and a treck through Jumanji's jungle later, we actually managed to find it.
Walking across the bridge and taking in the beautiful harbor around us was truly amazing. We were surrounded by many different people from all walks of life, which shows just how powerful a landmark can be in bringing people together!
The bridge it's self had a walkway which was suspended above the road used by the traffic. To my amazement the pedestrian walkway was constructed entirely out of wooden slats, which was something I was not expecting at all! However, it gave it a pretty unique edge, as I had never seen a bridge of such a grand scale ever use that feature. The initial walk across is a little lengthy but is one I highly recommend and is a must if your in the area. We even decided to celebrate our success at finally finding it, with a cheeky bevvy at a quaint little Irish bar afterwards.
When you envision popular tourist attractions in New York, what comes to mind? Would I be right in saying The Statue Of Liberty? She is one of the most popular ladies in all of America, I just couldn't come all this way and not visit her!
Lady Liberty stands grandly on her pedestal upon her home of Liberty Island, New York Harbor, she was an amazing gift from the good people of France. As she was constructed out of copper, her original colour was actually that of light brown. However, over the years the natural oxidation process of the Copper, has caused her to become the beautiful greeny/blue colour we see her as today. She stands at an impressive 93 meters tall with her pedestal, or 46 meters on her own.Whilst in America we hopped on board a guided ferry tour of the sights in and around New York Harbor, of course Lady Liberty was one of them.
I'll be honest with you I was a little underwhelmed at her size, as when close to her she seems rather small without her pedestal. She is actually nowhere near as large as she is usually depicted in movies, however 46 meters tall is still pretty magnificent for any statue! Despite her size it was amazing to finally see her with my own eyes and is a once in a lifetime experience I shall never forget. Oh.. and of course we decided to take a selfie with our beautiful lady!
The Empire State Building... You all probably know it from back in the 1930's when an over-sized ape decided to climb it am i right? King Kong aside this building is truly iconic and beautifully designed! Before we'd even touched down in the U.S. we knew visiting was a priority, so much so that we rose bright and early to head out and tick it off our bucket list... just minus the monkey's this time!
The iconic Empire State building was built 88 years ago on 17th March 1930, and is known for being the most famous observatory in the world! Both the lobby and the entire interior of the building has an Art Deco design complete with grand gold detailing, making it feel like walking into to Willky Wonka's chocolate factory and was truly breathtaking.
Empire State has two viewing decks, the main deck being on the 86th floor and the top deck being on the 102nd. To reach the platforms you have to take one of the stunning elevators to the 80th floor, and either take another or the stairs to the 86th floor. I'd highly recommend the lift, as trust me those 6 flights of stairs are a lot longer than you think! I think i managed to complete my exercise for the whole month just in that staircase.
From the platforms a full 360 degree view of the iconic New York skyline can be seen in all it's glory! It truly was stunning to be able to look down at this beautiful city and take it all in, I still couldn't quite believe I was there. From one angle Central Park could be seen, and from another the statue of liberty could be seen standing upon her island extremely small but still very proud!
Thankfully the weather decided to be on our side the entire time, and amazing memories were made. There is no way we could go all the way to New York City and not visit Empire State!
Do you ever see something on TV and think to yourself "You know what.. I wanna visit that place one day!", well for me Times Square was one of those bucket list worthy places! Over the years I have watched many movies and TV shows set in New York City, seen musicians and movie stars posing perfectly in the streets and listened to my friends reminisce about memories they have made there! Times Square very quickly became somewhere I longed to visit, but never in a million years ever thought I'd ever get lucky enough to make a reality.
In my opinion Times Square is two completely different places contrasting between day and night, you have to experience both to truly feel the magic and buzz that this city can radiate! During the day it's like any other big city, full of people rushing around, tourists gawping at every small detail and yellow cabs filling the streets like a hive of bumble bees. However at night... that's when the real magic happens!
We decided to waste no time at all and on our first night ventured out to see what all the fuss was about! The square was a very different place to what I had seen during the day, every store sign was now glowing an array of different colours, despite the sky being pitch black it was brighter than ever out there. I was surrounded by the many screens Times Square is famous for all displaying different ads, entertainers dressed as Elsa, Spiderman and even the Statue Of Liberty roaming the streets ready to put on a show and horse drawn carriage drivers zipping around taking their passengers to every inch of the city.
I was so surprised by the sheer volume of people out and about at such a late hour, getting somewhere fast was virtually impossible in the crowds that surrounded the square! The traffic was impossible as Taxis struggled to get around due to insane crowds covering the streets, it was almost laughable however the large crowds meant extra care had to be taken to not be separated from your group.
Back in Preston the shopping centre shuts at around 6pm, so it felt almost insane to be out and about shopping at near enough midnight! Although it had a rather surreal feeling, almost like when you go midnight shopping on Christmas eve to get the last of the veg in before the big day. It was truly and utterly insane but I felt so happy, i couldn't help but grin from ear to ear. To be part of the hustle and bustle was amazing and honestly made me feel so alive. Life in New York City was so beautiful, and it felt like no amount of time could even begin to ruin the bubble that surrounds it!
To finally be stood there in Times Square after all this time was a feeling I can't even begin to put into words, and to finally be the one getting their photograph taken in front of the famous bright lights is still something I can't to this day even believe happened! The experience was made all the more perfect by having my boyfriend by my side the entire time, I was swamped with this overwhelming feeling that life can be good, you just have to get through the bad to be rewarded with the good! I never thought I'd find someone who loves me enough to put up with me and want to be by my side, never mind stand by me in front of Times Square!
This beautiful city is an escape from reality that everyone should experience at least once in their lives, it truly is the city that never sleeps! I guess the moral of this story is that if you believe hard enough, you really can make your dreams a reality!
If you follow my blog posts then I'm sure you already know that a few months ago I was lucky enough to be exploring Boston, Massachusetts. Having already spent the full morning roaming the grounds of Harvard University, we were now left with some free time on our hands to use how ever we pleased!
One location we all were very keen to visit was that of Massachusetts Institute Of Technology! I know what your all thinking... not exactly your idea of having fun ey? Well let's not forget we are all CSI's after all!
Just like every other Academic building we had previously seen, this one was truly magnificent! The main entrance to MIT resembled that of the Natural History Museum, so very grand and elegant complete with white stone pillars and a stair case leading up to it. In true tourist style we of course decided to have a lil photo shoot upon the stairs!
The TV savvy among you may recall a show which aired in America during the 1980's and 90's, I of course mean none other than the sitcom "Cheers". As we were in Boston it of course seemed rude to not head inside the "Cheers" bar for a quick drink! Inside was overflowing with various memorabilia items and souvenirs from the show, which was actually the most popular series of all time during it's time on air. We headed upstairs in the hope of finding a seat, however every other human being in Boston also seemed to have the same idea! The place was rammed with cheery people all chattering away while they drank out of "Cheers" inscribed steins, so instead we opted for a quick soft drink refresher before heading back out to explore some more!
Our casual wanders took us for a stroll through Boston Common, which was a little more like the local parks we are used to back home as opposed to that of Central Park! However the park was still so beautiful, complete with it's own lake and water fountain. Walking through that park with the sun shinning down on us, time stopped for a minute and I had absolutely no cares in the world during that single moment!
After all this exploring there was only one thing left to do... SHOPPING!! While wandering around Boston City we stumbled across the cutest little indoor food market, which we just had to go check out! Inside the market was rammed with tourists from all different walks of life, brushing shoulders with them all as we passed through felt like we were taking a walk down a cobbled street just bathing in culture! The stalls sold all sorts of food ranging from Pizza, Seafood, Mexican and even sweet dessert stands.
We finished of the day by making a pit stop at none other than Primark which was bigger than anything I could have imagined, posing with the word Boston all lit up in baby blue lighting. Although Boston was one of the most tiring days of the the entire trip it was beyond worth it, I would 100% do it all again in a heartbeat!
Massachusetts Institution Of Technology
Cheers Bar
Boston Common
